Midterm Review

Question 1

Why does the abundance of coves, bays that line the Bay Coastline make restoration more difficult?

Answer 1

1. It’s difficult to protect all these areas from pollution &
2. Since there is no -one- main/direct path to the bay pollutants enter from many different areas (like the coves)

Question 2

TMDL- What is it and how is it a diet?

Answer 2

Total Maximum Daily Load- a requirement of the Federal Clean Water Act that effectively limits the maximum amount of pollution a waterway can receive and still meet the water quality standards [designed to make waters swimmable and fishable)
Diet because water can only take so much in if it wants to lose ‘fat’ AKA overall pollution in general.

Question 3

What factors lead to the decline of the Oyster Population & to its failed restoration?

Answer 3

Initial Killing Factors: Overfishing the old reefs & increased sedimentation the oysters weren’t able to filter

Restoration Barriers: New diseases (MSX) & Low population density makes it difficult for oysters to reproduce

Question 4

Water Quality issues for Urban Rivers?

Answer 4

Impervious Surfaces: 40% of DC Impervious Surface-Area are roads, meaning grease, oils, PAH’s & PCB’s all runoff the road directly in to sewage that enters the Bay

Old Infrastructure: Combined Sewage Systems overflow at dumping points straight into the water

High Volume of Litter

High Pop Density= more trash

Question 5

Eutrophication

Answer 5

1. N & P enter water
2. Phytoplankton Populations spike
   - Reduces light transmission to SAV’s (byproduct)
3. Plankton outcompete each other and die off in a crash
4. Microbes that use Oxygen decompose the plankton using massive amounts of the O2 in the water
5. Hypoxic zones are created due to this (4) which kills fish/ plants and prevents them from re-inhabitting the waters
   - SAV’s are damaged by this also preventing new benthic O2

Question 6

SAV’s? What function do they serve?

Answer 6

Sub Aquatic Vegetation: Plants that grow below the water surface/ are indicators of good water quality.

1. Provide habitat for blue crabs and baby striped bass
2. Provide food for certain species like sea turtles
3. Provide benthic O2 for sea floor where O2 is tough to get to from the water surface

Question 7

Emerging Environmental Issues (20 years)

Answer 7

Increased # of dead zones/ hypoxic regions

Increased Land Development- 100acres/day = more impervious surfaces

Invasive Species

Extinction

Sea Level Rising

Acidification of Waters

Question 8

Bay States?

Answer 8

6 total: MD, VA, WV, DE, Penn, NY (DC not a state)

Question 9

For or Against the Chinese Oyster?

Answer 9

For: More disease resilient, more filtering species
Against: New disease, non-reef-forming

Question 10

Water Circulation System of the Bay?

Answer 10

Partially Mixed

Question 11

Chesapeake Estuary Type?

Answer 11

Coastal Plain Estuary (River, Delta, drop, Estuary)

Question 12

Freshwater Limiting Nutrient

Answer 12

Phosphorus

Question 13

Saltwater Limiting Nutrient

Answer 13

Nitrogen

Question 14

Geological Factors that led to forming the Bay?

Answer 14

Bolide Meteor Impact, Glacial Retreat from Ice Age, Drowning of the Susquehanna River Valley

Question 15

Where would you expect to find MSX disease?

Answer 15

Lower Bay: needs salinity from lower bay to exist

Question 16

Wild Celery would be found where?

Answer 16

Upper Bay/ Tributaries (fresh water)

Question 17

What Water Quality Aspect does the Sechi Disk measure?

Answer 17

Light Transmission : White/Black checker until it fades

Question 18

Specific Bay Indicators?

Answer 18

1. Burley Fowler Index - (Shoes/ Rappahannock River)- how murky the water is
2. State of the Bay Report (CBF): graded out of 100 by 13 indicators of 4 categories
3. Chesapeake Bay Report Card (NOAA, EPA, CBP): each tributary gets a grade using 7 indicators that are combined in grading process.

Question 19

Eco System Model (& what they do)

Answer 19

Chesapeake Watershed Model – land use, fertilizer use, wastewater, atmospheric deposition, livestock production, weather and other variables to predict how much and where pollutants originate

Chesapeake Bay Fisheries Ecosystem Model – food web model for fisheries management decisions

Chesapeake Atlantis Model – food web + habitat + human activities and nutrient inputs; spatially explicit

Question 20

Recent Milestones

Answer 20

Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (Flush Tax): Effective July 1, 2012, the State Legislature doubled the BRF Fee to an average of $15 per quarter for each home served by a wastewater treatment plant.

Impervious Surface Tax (Rain Tax): The Rain Tax essentially charges homeowners for any surface of land they own that does not absorb rainwater.

1st Chesapeake Bay Agreement (1983): Recognizing the CBP results- MD, PENN, VA, & DC all agree to meet twice yearly to coordinate efforts to restore the Bay

2nd Chesapeake Bay Agreement (1987): More goal driven same states + EPA, DC Federal Government - adopt wq provisions, oyster restoration, protecting marshes and wetlands

Question 21

Menhaden: Uses…

Answer 21

1. Commercial: Fish Oil

2. Food Web: prey fish for many bigger fish

Question 22

Current Land Use in the Chesapeake Bay?

Answer 22

58% Forest/ Undeveloped
22% Aggriculture
9% Urban Suburban
11% Other

Question 23

Nitrogen Pollution Sources

Answer 23

41% Agriculture Runoff
25% Air Pollution
16% Wastewater Treatment & Factories
15% Urban/ Suburban Stormwater runoff
3% Septic

Question 24

Impervious Surface Solutions

Answer 24

Rain Gardens
Permeable Pavers
Rooftop Gardens
Fewer Roads
Smaller Buildings

Question 25

Biological Nutrient Removal

Answer 25

Review this more in depth but
anaerobic- enhanced biological phosphorus removal
aerobic- nitrification
anoxic- denitrification

Question 26

Natural Denitrification

Answer 26

Marshes, Seagrasses, & Oyster Bed habitats have higher rates of denitrification than mud habitats